Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railway (56k warning)

[NSL Fan]

There's a good 50+ Miles of track laid. No scenery as of yet. My scenery person shall be starting soon. In the meantime, I have come to the conclusion that I must relay most of the track As of now, the track spacing is 4 meters. In retrospect that is a bit too narrow. (AAR specs state that the minimum track spacing is about 4.27 meters.) I have corrected this in the track rule, and shall be running the length of the railroad laid replacing track at the correct spacing. That should be at least 3 evenings of work. Then I can continue laying track toward Milwaukee. This is all of course with respect to the time I have available in between School work.

Zach

[NSL Fan]

Milestone! Urban Sprawl!



But not so much as it appears...



I finally dived into the world of scenery tonight and placed some buildings as well as some L structure at Lake and Wells. It appears promising.

Stay tuned for some scenery updates on the rural end of the route as well...

[eric]

I have come to the conclusion that I must relay most of the track As of now, the track spacing is 4 meters. In retrospect that is a bit too narrow. (AAR specs state that the minimum track spacing is about 4.27 meters.)

If you haven't already re-done your track, 4m probably would have been OK for the timeframe in which the Evanston-Milwaukee line was built, and most likely accurate for the CTA as well...

Read the following, starting on page 1153.... The responses are fairly consistent in saying there was no standard for interurbans.

http://books.google.com/books?id=jyFLAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA1155&ots=USd9zuCIV4&dq=interurban%20track%20spacing&pg=PA1153#v=onepage&q=interurban%20track%20spacing&f=false

[NSL Fan]

That's a heck of a book there! I've got it filed for later reading. Thanks!

And yes, I have relaid most of it. there are bits that are still the original 4 meters, mainly on the North Side mainline between Wilson Ave and Howard St, and the Mundelein Branch on the North Shore. The main issues were 1) On the sharp corners of the L, trains were sideswiping, and 2) The North Shore Skokie and Milwaukee Lines were built oddly wide, as shown in the below link.

http://www.davesrailpix.com/cnsm/htm/cnsm364.htm

Thanks,
Zach

[OTTODAD]

The switch above has been badly formed, no frog, it's blades are frozen and do not show it's path.

That usually happens when 2 different trackrules are being used for it or there it a joint red triangle in it !

O t t o

[NSL Fan]

You are partially correct in your observations Otto. It is the same track rule, and there is not a red triangle partially through the switch. I did however, do this bodging of switch points by choice, for a good reason. There are no shapes for switches or crossings in the Scalerail "open deck" track, which I am using for the elevated. Instead, each point gets a default ballasted texture/shape, as show on the left. In order to keep the wood elevated structure look, I have mixed guardrail and no-guardrail Open deck sections, (and a few bits of plain rail in some places), as shown on the right. It is my opinion that that the unformed point is less visually obtrusive then the ballast.



Zach

[OTTODAD]

Yes, the Scalerail Opendeck tracks switches either show gravel or do not form properly, you could mention to Marc Nelson.

Their gravel switch stands is also inappropriate in elevated tracks !

But not being used by many, if at all, doubt whether he will look into that.

Jim Ward has created his own Pontrack3 trackrule for the Chicago Elevated tracks in his POCM route, available from my web site, I have added third rails and Tom Moyers automatic switch motors to.

Could make the metal switch ties more rusty looking, but they look good enough for me. Lets say that they have been replaced recently !

O t t o

[NSL Fan]

As a matter-of-fact Otto, Marc Nelson has inquired about the particulars of Chicago L trackage over at Railworks America, so it's a possibility something will happen....

Anyway, on a wet fall day in 1962, Train 309, the 5:26 PM Lake Bluff-Mundelein train, eases out from under the Chicago and Northwestern at the start of it's 18 minute journey.



A few months later, on January 19th, 1963, train 309 prepares to leave Lake Bluff for the last time.



Back in happier times, in the spring of 1961 train 303, the 7:54 Lake Bluff-Mundelein train leaves its Lake Bluff Terminal.



One minute later, train 405, the the 6:56 AM Milwaukee Limited, slows for its own stop at Lake Bluff.



So yeah, my Scenery Wizard, whom I will credit as "Tim" for now, has begun his onslaught on the miles and miles of scenery that must be done, by sort of easing into the first mile or so from the Route Origin at Lake Bluff, IL. To say I'm pleased is an understatement!

Zach

[NSL Fan]

Tonight I laid the 11 miles worth of Chicago and Northwestern railroad which paralleled the North Shore between Tower KO and Oakton Street, the length of the Skokie Valley Line.



A C&NW F7 set stands by as CNS&M "Freight Locomotive" picks up 35 cars of coal from the Oakton st interchange in Skokie. The North Shore will take the train 20 miles north to Great Lakes Navel Training Station, where the same C&NW crew will take the train back for delivery to the local power plant. (Twas' a complicated deal that dated back to the 1920's, when the power plant and North Shore Line were owned by the same interests, Samuel Insull. )



That is if the train will ever move. The GG1 didn't like the loaded cars one bit, and refused to move in a northerly direction. A bigger engine may need to be called for. Or smaller coal hoppers... :P

Zach

[OTTODAD]

Here is a long freight train with a GG1 front and back at the rear of my NEC clone's Philadelphia Low Level station, having no problems moving it !

http://www.otto-wipfel.co.uk/video/gg1-nec.wmv
Alt-Enter to view Full-Screen.

Still can not find a video recorder which can record the action's 30 FpS running smoothness exactly the same as shown in TS-2013, Fraps and now Bandicam still showing some stuttering of which there is none when driving it in the sim !

It seems to be the AVI to WMV conversion which makes it worse.

O t t o

[NSL Fan]

Were the cars empty or loaded Otto? The single GG1 refused to move 35 loaded 100T cars.

And I'm a long way from Chicago....







Milwaukee to be exact. I went on a track laying spree these past few nights, and made it the 40 miles from Waukegan to Milwaukee. I won't bore you all with the intricacies of that bit right now, (It's decidedly straight and green,) but I must share the northern extremity of the railroad, the Milwaukee Terminal. It was built on the corner of 6th and Michigan Streets in 1923, and was on a nice hill sloping down from west to east. The throat was a nice challenge to put together, and for the most part I've got it. The bit wiggling down to the storage tracks needs adjustment, (I derailed seconds after taking the screenshot.) But overall, I'm happy with it.

Zach

[OTTODAD]

2 GG1s loaded coal tain: http://www.otto-wipfel.co.uk/video/gg1-coal-train.wmv

[NSL Fan]

One month later I'm back at it again.



Harrison Ave. Shops, Milwaukee.

More work will be done on track over the next two weeks by myself, then it's back over to my scenery associate for a while.

Zach

[NSL Fan]

Let's go for a ride down 5th St, starting at the Harrison Shops.



Down the hill...



And up again.



It has been said that his hill was the bane of the North Shore's existance. Motormen usually had to charge the hill to get over it.



Finally the car jogs to 6th St for the last mile to downtown.

[OTTODAD]

These trams look like the UK Blackpool ones.

O t t o